Japan Eases Merger Rules
Japan's Fair Trade Commission is set to ease merger-review rules for M&A in critical sectors
**Insight: Follows a broader Japan policy shift toward economic-security screening and strategic-sector consolidation: Japan has already tightened foreign investment review in sensitive industries, while METI has been promoting clearer takeover/M&A rules - In line with recent expectations that Japan would support domestic scale-building in semiconductors, defense, critical minerals, infrastructure and other strategic supply-chain areas